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Manual/Multiplayer
See also: Servers To start a multiplayer game (to fight against human players), choose "Multiplayer" from main menù. Multiplayer menu Entering "Multiplayer" menu, you will see the integrated server browser. Press "refresh" button to update the server list. Press "spacebar" on your keyboard to stop the refresh (you cannot change options during refresh). Click on the server you wish and then "fight". The table will show you the server's name, map in use, number of players connected/allowed, game mode in use, IPv4/IPv6 and PING. "Ping" represents the lag time (latency), in ms. Think it is the time that passes from when you push a button and when the server knows you did. If this value is lower, it is better. For best performances, you should not use other bandwidth consuming applications (for example, peer to peer applications) when playing an online game. Some servers may not allow you to enter if your ping is too high (you would see "Server is for low pings only"): in that case, try another server. Hint: when you are playing online on another server, you can't change map (or other parameters, like g_gametype or fraglimit) like on your own server, but you could (if the server allows it) be able to "call a vote" about it (for example \callvote g_gametype 0) and other players will be able to vote (usually, push F1 to vote "yes" or F2 to vote "no"): if the vote passes, the command will be executed. For example, you can use \callvote map xxx to change map or \callvote kick yyy to force disconnection of an ill-mannered player. Options You can find various options in the upper section of the screen: * Servers: you can search for servers over Internet, or inside your LAN (Local Area Connection) or from your Favorites list. On the right, there is a button to delete a server from the favorites list. Note: "Local" network scan finds only servers using UDP ports 27960, 27961, 27962 or 27963 (so, it will find max 4 OA server processes for each IP). However, if you know that there is a server within your LAN that uses a different port, you can still connect to it, manually specifing its IP and port using "Specify" button or \connect command. "Internet" scan, instead, reads a server list from the "master server", that enumerates "dedicated 2" servers (please read dedicated server section below). * Game Type: you can show "all" kinds of game types (including some mod-specific gametypes), or filter for a particular game type. * Sort By: it allows you so change the order of the list. Usually it is by Ping, since having lower ping is better. * Show Full: if enabled, shows also "full" servers (for example 8/8 players slots already used). You will not be able to connect there until someone quits from that server. * Show Empy: if enabled, shows also servers with no players (for example 0/8). * Only humans: if enabled, hides "bots" from the count of players (you could notice, for example, a 2/8 change into 0/8, or a 4/8 change into 2/8 if there were two bots on that server) * Hide private: if enabled, hides "private" servers, that require a password to connect to. Buttons You can find various buttons in the lower section of the screen: * Back: return to main menù * Specify: you can specify a particular server address and port (default port is 27960), if you know them (like using \connect command form command console) * Refresh: update server list. You can stop update before it finishes by pressing spacebar. * Create: starts a game as a server. * Fight: connects to the server selected from the list. Favorites To show the favorite servers list, select "Favorites" from "Servers" option on the top of the "Multiplayer" menu. To add a server to your "favorites" list, first connect to a server, then press "escape" key, select "server info" and then click on "add to favorites". To remove a server from "favorites" list, just select that server and then click on "delete" button. Favorites IPs/URLs are stored in variables from "server1" to "server16" (their default value is "", blank), so you can store up to 16 favorite servers. You can show all of them in console typing \server and pressing TAB key. Some external server browsers may allow to store many more favorites. If you delete a server from the list, the variables that host the list will be "compacted" (sorted) when you exit from the "Multiplayer" menu. Warning: As far as OA 0.8.5, there is no error message shown if you try to add a new server to favorites after 16, simply it will not be added. And you cannot delete an unresponsitive server from the list using the graphical user interface, since they are not shown: in this case you have to do it manually, setting the right variable (from "server1" to "server16") to blank (for example, \server5 ""). After deleting a server, it is advisable to enter and exit from the "Multiplayer" menu, to have the list "compacted". Create If you select to create a game, your machine will be a server, and other players will be able to join your game. You can find this useful when playing with your friends over LAN (playing on a server inside a Local Area Network usually permits lower pings than playing over the internet). If you are the server, your ping will be 0. You will need to select the "game mode" (a.k.a. "game type".... you will also be able to change it later with \g_gametype command) and the map (you can change it later with \map command), then click "next". Then, you can open a "slot" for each player allowed to join the game: * Human: this is you. * Open: this slot is available if someone wants to connect to your server. * Bot: a bot will be there. So you will not be completely alone, waiting for other players to connect. You can also set slots as "open" and add or remove bots later, from the game. * ....: this slot is closed and no one will be able to use it. There are some options, like "capture limit" and "time limit" (when a match will end); "pure server" (usually you should enable it, it ensures that everyone have the same pk3 files loaded, preventing many common errors); "Instantgib" (all the players will have only the railgun and a single hit will kill a player); "All rockets" (all the players will have only the rocket launcher); Physics (in the original Q3A, player physics changes slightly depending on the players' frame-rate: in OpenArena this has been fixed, but if you want you can select to follow the original behavior); Hostname (you can choose a name for your server). When you are ready, click "fight". The map will be loaded and your friends should be able to connect to your server. If there are problems, please read "IPs, routers and firewalls" section below. Dedicated server It is possible to start a server game also as "dedicated server": in this case the local machine will not use the graphical system and you will not be able to play directly from that OpenArena process. It is useful if you want to set up a permanent OpenArena server. You can run a dedicated server using "standard" OpenArena executable, or using a specific one designed for this mode only. In short (very short), you can enable "dedicated server" mode simpy launching openarena +set dedicated from your OS command line, or typing \dedicated in your command console, then loading a map. Allowed values are 0'' (no dedicated server: in this case, you can/must play!), ''1 (dedicated server, not broadcasted to master server: if you want to play with your friends, manually giving your address to them -usually for LAN-) and 2'' (dedicated server, broadcasted to master server: if you want that everyone may be able find your server -usually for Internet-). Remember that you can even publish your server and restrict access using a password. When running OpenArena.exe in dedicated server mode, if you type \dedicated 0 you will return to standard functionality, and clients will be disconnected. You can also start the dedicated server launching ''oa_ded.exe instead of openarena.exe: this should use'' less system resources'' (so it is advisable, especially if you want more server processes on your machine - in that case, you can manually set different ports for each process (launching the software with +set net_port '' option), or the program will "sense" that UDP port 27960 is already in use and new istances of ''oa_ded.exe will automatically use 27961, 27962, etc.), and works only as dedicated server (dedicated 0 is not allowed). You have only the console. Using it, you don't need to type / or \ before a command. It works in plain text mode, so it uses less resources, but does not show text colors: using this executable, you will see ^1Colored ^2text instead of Colored text, where it is used. Note: oa_ded.exe is the "dedicated server" executable file for Microsoft Windows; under GNU-Linux, it is oaded.i386; under Max OS, it is oa_ded.ub: please read here for more info. There are many options that may interest you, and you may to prepare custom configuration files with an external text editor, then load them using /exec command, to don't have to set them every time. Or you may add command line options to a shortcut, like "C:\...\oa_ded.exe" +set dedicated 2 +map oasago2 +set sv_hostname Your_server_name. You can start one (or more) dedicated server(s) on a machine, then start a standard OpenArena process and use /connect command to connect to it also from the same machine. Tip:' You can control your server remotely, so you don't need to physically work on that machine to make changes. Please read remote control for more informations. For more info about dedicated server mode, please read Servers page. '''''Hint: remember that you may need to configure your router/firewall, especially if you want your server to be accessible from the Internet. Hitch warning An "hitch" is a sort of slowdown or interruption in the program "loop" that handles game events; this is usually caused by "long" operations like loading a map or loading a bot. When running as dedicated server, if there is a hitch longer than 500 msec, you will find a "Hitch warning: xxx msec frame time" message in the server console. Players may experience some glitches in gameplay for a while, anyway you shouldn't have to worry about them, unless hitches are too frequent or too long... However, you could try to check if there are other programs running in your machine that use too much CPU, or try to defragment your hard disk, or try to give an higher priority to the server process (under Microsoft Windows, you can do this using Task Manager or the good Process Explorer from Sysinternals), or to restart your machine. IPs, routers and firewalls If you want your friends to join your server, please check your IP address ("internal" if you are playing within a LAN, and "external" if you want to play over the Internet. For example, you can go here to know your external IP address.) and tell it to your friends. You may need to setup your firewall to allow both incoming and outgoing traffic on UDP port 27960, and/or your router to forward (search for "port forwarding", "port mapping" or "virtual servers" options in your router configuration) that port from your external address to the internal IP of your server machine. You need administrator access to your router/firewall do to this. Remember that your firewall settings could prevent other players from joining your server, or even prevent you from joining other servers. If you have problems, check its settings (a firewall could be integrated in your operating system, or could be a third-party software (for example, supplied with an antivirus program), or could be managed by a network router or by a proper server). Standard port for OpenArena is 27960 (UDP), but sometimes it may be different (for example, there could be more OpenArena servers sharing the same IP, each linked to a different port): it is controlled by net_port variable and it is important for server administrators. To communicate with "master server" (to get the server list), your firewall has to permit outgoing traffic on UDP port 27950 (this one is not customizable). Important: some routers may not allow computers inside your local network to connect to your own external IP address. When using your own server, local computers should connect to its internal (local) IP address. If your router/firewall supports QoS (Quality of Service) feature, you can try to set traffic for OpenArena ports as "high priority" or "low latency" to get better performances. This should make your other network applications not to slow down OpenArena connection too much. Tip: you can have only a single server session for each IP/port combination. You can have multiple servers (that may correspond to one ore more physical machines) published on Internet using different external ports or different external IP addresses (more rare). It exists a variable called net_qport (do not confuse it with "net_port"). If two players from the same LAN, that share the same internet access using a NAT (having the some public IP), try to connect to the same Internet server, they will not be able to play if both of them have the same net_qport value. In OpenArena 0.8.5, it works correctly: its value is automatically (and randomly) changed each time you launch the game, so you do not have to worry about it. In some previous versions of OpenArena, like 0.8.1, it was set to 0 by default, so if more players from the LAN had to connect to the same internet server, each of them had to start OpenArena with a different net_qport set from the command line (for example, a player with openarena.exe +set net_qport 46316, another with openarena.exe +set net_qport 37937, etc.). Testing To check if your router/firewall(s) are correctly configured, you can try using this tool (for Microsoft Windows), with OpenArena and oa_ded programs closed. Cause of its nature, troubleshooting of UDP is not too easy, and this tool claims to be more accurate than others for UDP checking. Note: you do not need to install also the optional "Ask toolbar" that comes with that intallation package: it is not related to the test, it's simply a web browser toolbar like others.... you can uncheck its option during installation. If you want to simply test your internet connection speed, you can go to Speedtest.net (bandwidth test) and Pingtest.net (ping and packet loss test). Obviously, higher bandwidth is better (anyway, OpenArea does not need enormous bandwidth, since you can play even with a 56k modem... but if you want to act as server, you should have nice upload and download speeds to support various clients) and lower ping and packet loss is better. Be sure you loaded a map before doing this test. If your settings are OK, you can check if your server is reachable from internet starting your server and then following this link, putting your external IP or IP:PORT in the place of My_server_IP. If you can see your server infos, it should be ok, and people should de able to play on your server. Specifing your address this way works also if your server is not "dedicated 2" (not published on master server: if your server is not "dedicated 2", only who knows your IP can see your server information or connect to it from Internet). Be sure you loaded a map before doing this test. If you want to be sure that your "dedicated 2" server appears in the server list (to be found by who don't know your address), check if you can find it in this list. If you can't see it in that list, but the previous test (specifing your address) worked, it may be that your port 27960 is open, but your router changes your source port when sending your packets outside. Semi-Technical explaination (may contain some litte imprecisions): a "dedicated 2" server informs "master server" about its own existence sending a packet called "heartbeat" (it does it automatically, but you can force it when you want, using \heartbeat command), then master server replies asking for info and your server replies giving its name, gametype, current map, etc. After these three packets (that use port 27960 -you- and port 27950 -master server-), that are enough for the previous test (specifing your address), more packets are exchanged, and they may come from different addresses and ports. These additional packets are sent from outside to the port from which your previous packets were transmitted to the server. So, if your router initially changed the source port of your packets, for example, using port 38120 instead of 27960, the additional packets will be directed to your incoming port 38120, thus being blocked by your router/firewall, or simply not controlled by OpenArena (that checks port 27960). Address/port shifting behaviour comes from NAT/PAT router features, great inventions that allow many computers to share a single internet access, but make more difficult to configure servers. If you are using a dial-up modem, probably you are not using NAT and your PC address is your external address; if you are using a router, probably you are using NAT and your PC has an internal address, while your router has both an internal and an external address; sometimes, but it is more rare (usually if your router supports it and if your ISP gave you more external addresses), it is possible for your server to use a specific external IP address directly, without using NAT/PAT. If your "dedicated 2" server is not shown in the server list, you should check that your router sends your OpenArena initial packets using source port 27960, without changing it: you may check for an option similar to "Corresponding NAT entry for outgoing connection" for your port forwarding/port mapping/virtual servers rules in your router/firewall configuration... it may fix the problem. If you know enough about networking, you can try to analyze your network traffic, trying to discover what's wrong. You should check your router/firewall logs for errors and blocked packets, and use a network protocol analyzer software on your server machine. Wireshark is a famous, free and multiplatform tool. If you are using a modem, remember that the software may not be able to acquire dial-up (PPP) traffic. If you are using a router, remember that if it is using NAT/PAT, internal and external addresses and ports may be changed by your router after/before (depending from packet direction) the software reads the packes. To allow the maximum amount of traffic being read from Wireshark, you may need to temporarily (remember to fix everything after the test) disable your software firewall (if you use one), and to configure your physical firewall to allow bidirectional traffic on all UDP ports, and to configure your router to "port forward" all incoming UDP traffic to your server internal IP: be careful, the last one may cause problems if there are more computers attached to your LAN. What did you say? Terms used here are misterious for you? You can take a look to some Wikipedia pages to learn what they mean (be aware that some pages there could be even harder than this one... anyway you don't need to know everything in detail): Server (computing), Game server, Client (computing), Multiplayer video game, Internet Protocol (IP), IP address, User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Local Area Network (LAN), LAN Party, Dial-up Internet access, Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP), Broadband Internet access, Modem, DSL modem, Router, Firewall (computing), Network address translation (NAT), Port address translation (PAT), Port forwarding (a.k.a. Port mapping or Virtual Servers), TCP and UDP port, Quality of service (QoS), Cross-platform (a.k.a. Multiplatform), Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4), Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). External server browsers We described the integrated server browser, above. But you can also find online OpenArena servers from some web pages or from external server browser programs. They could include more informations and more functions than the integrated server browser (for example, Qtracker shows you also the name of the mod in use on the server). Please read Servers page for more info and Servers#Tools section for a list of external server browsers that support OpenArena. Commands See also: Servers. You can find a server configuration example there (you may save it to a text file in your baseoa folder and then load that configuration with \exec config_file_name. You can find more examples in Configuration examples page, mixing them with the main example configuration.). Other commands available in Command console and Manual/Console Commands pages. Some commands may be available only when acting as server, or as dedicated server, or as client. When playing locally, you are both client and server. * \connect - Use from client. This command allows you to specify a particular server to connect to. For example, \connect 127.0.0.1 or \connect 127.0.0.1:27960 (use the server's IP instead of 127.0.0.1, anyway this address will work if you launch two OpenArena precesses on your machine, one as "dedicated server" and the other as a client). * \reconnect - Use from client. Reconnects to the last server. Useful if you lose connection for some reason. * \disconnect - Use from client. Disconnects you from the current server, returning to main menu. * \callvote - If the server allows it, players can "vote" to change some server settings, for example map or g_gametype. * \serverinfo - Gives information about your own server. * \status - Use from server. Gives information about connected clients. * \clients - Gives information about connected clients (like client id). * \serverstatus - Use from client. Gives information about the server. (In OA 0.8.5 there is a bug, and it will close the program). * \dumpuser - Use from server. Shows informations about a specific player (like handicap, rail colors, model/skin...). It shows also the skill level of a bot. * \net_port - Without parameters, shows your own UDP network port. To choose a different port, launch openarena.exe (or oa_ded.exe) with +set net_port option. Default port is 27960: if program finds it is already in use, it will automatically use port 27961, 27962, and so on... * \net_qport - In some versions of OpenArena, like 0.8.1, it was set to 0 by default, with the bad effect of preventing two or more players from the same LAN, with the same extenal IP (behind a NAT), from joining the same Internet server. The workaround was to launch the game manually specifying a different net_qport (for example, openarena.exe +set fs_game 46021) for each player. In OpenArena 0.8.5, it works correctly: a random net_qport is chosen automatically every time you launch the game, thus you do not have to worry about it. * \heartbeat - Use from "dedicated 2" server mode. Informs the "master server" about the existence of your server, to allow other players over the Internet to find it. It is done automatically, but you can force the operation with this command. * \addbot - Use from server. You can manually add a bot. If you want, you can also specify the team (red or blue) during team matches, and the skill level (from console, the skill level can also be fractional). For example, \addbot sarge 4.6 blue adds the Sarge bot, with a skill level of "4.6" (between "hardcore" and "nightmare"), to the blue team. * \kick - Use from server (or use "callvote" from client). Disconnects a player or a bot from the server. * \bot_minplayers - Use from server. Automatically adds or removes bots depending from how many human players are connected, thus having at least the specified numbers of players (humans or bots) in the arena (or in each team, during team-based games). Useful to always offer a challenge to who connects to your server. Default value is 0. Set the bot skill level using g_spskill. * \g_spskill - Use from server. Changes the default skill level for the bots (added by \bot_minplayers) added after you set it. Default value is 2. See also * Servers * Manual * Troubleshooting * Remote control Category:Manual